MGE Magnum 500W

Silent and awesome power. Like Batman.

If looks could cool the Magnum would be top dog of the silent PSU market. Its sleek brushed aluminium frame, copper heatpipe cooling, and rear backlit LCD display make it one sexy PSU. And true to its design, it’s quiet.

Rated for 500W it also features detachable cables, a boon when it comes to keeping the innards of your PC clean with good airflow.

In terms of power, the Manum sports two 12V rails both rated at 15 amps, with 30 amps on the 5V rail and 25 amps on the 3.3V rail. In testing on an Athlon64 3200 nForce4-SLI 7800GTX based system all the rails were rock solid, even under load, which means it’ll handle overclocking well.

This is also when the rear backlit LCD display comes in handy, displaying the temp of the unit, the draw on the main 12V rail, and the total wattage being consumed by the PSU. If you’ve ever wondered how much your system really draws, the Magnum will be able to tell you. Here’s hoping the next version will feature the LCD in a breakout box for a 5.25in bay where it’s easier to see.

In addition to the LCD the front of the unit features a row of LEDs to indiciate which rails are in use. Behind these a single low-speed temp controlled fan draws air into the unit, but even under load we could never hear this operating.

While the Magnum is clearly a sexy piece of bling for the Ali G in you, it’s not all sweetness and light. Hooking up a 2nd 7800 GTX for some SLI gaming goodness, the Magnum started audibly generating coil whine under the load. It wasn’t a quiet sound either, more the sound a cat might make while sliding down a razor blade. There aren’t many ‘silent’ PSUs that can handle an SLI system, and unfortunately the Magnum is one of them.

Overall, a solid and sexy PSU for a single GPU system. We don’t usually review products that aren’t available locally, but we made an exception for the Magnum because, let's face it, it’s bling in a box.

Contact info:

MGE Company
www.mgecompany.com